Clone Wars: Freeblade
by Karasai
Summary: Kanashiro is the last Knight of her ancient and noble House. Having suffered a terrible tragedy on the battlefield, she resolved to depart from home and hearth as Freeblade. On the eve of her decision, she finds that fate has but a larger plan for her and even more terrible trials in store for her.


Free Blade

A dream in which there is no end, it is what afflicts the mind of a young woman who sits all but awake amid the darkness of her household. A flickering flame illuminates her pale visage whilst she gazes into the flame that lays before her. She is young, only but two or three decades into her life and yet she has seen much in this universe she had not wished to. She, like many others have faced the terror in which had brought the Imperium low. She, like many of her Knightly House have bore witness to the galaxy in which sought nothing but to tear itself asunder.

It is in times like this, doubtful before the flames which kept her warm during the winter nights upon her home, did she find herself. Her thoughts are weighted with regret as she leans closer to the fire, uncaring of whether or not she was to be burned by it's heat. A test perhaps? She dips her hand into the flames and feels nothing, her gaze falls to where flesh should burn and sees only cold metal. It is a sudden thing, the memory which flashes through her mind like a rampaging beast.

She recalls her screams of pain as they pulled her from the Throne Mechanicum after a terrible battle in which her cockpit had been breached. During the battle, her person had been assaulted though to be saved by the grace of the Emperor himself. His Angels of Death had delivered her from the fate of death. Still, the damage had been done before they had pried the crazed Astartes corrupted by chaos from her Knight's hull. She recalled it through the eyes of her beastly machine. For it was through those eyes that she saw the horrors of war, fed directly into her mind through the machine in which bonded her and metal together as one.

"Lady Kanashiro." A voice calls out to her, causing for her to retract her mechanical hand from the flames. Her hidden gaze snaps towards the owner the voice and sees only a man without blemish or wound. "My Lady, you cannot sleep?"

Kanashiro, that her name. A name which was often associated with an unrelenting nature that often brought her into trouble on the field of battle. Trouble in which was well sought after the defeat at the hands of the damnable forces of chaos. A wound in which she could no more rescind as she could her own memories. There was a pain in these thoughts that none could alleviate and yet despite her dark thoughts a smile formed upon soft lips. She was beautiful beneath the flames that illuminated the room as it had caused her pale visage to glow brilliantly. Her colorful eyes were lit with nobility and kindness that only a woman of her House could ever hope to match. She approaches him, her bare feet brushing against the cold stone of this hearth. She reaches out to him and graces his shoulder with but a gentle touch of metal, her mechanical appendage, a reminder that she was not like him.

She nodded in silence, answering his question though at such proximity she was of small stature. "You honor me with titles I do not deserve once more."

"Cousin, you have fought many battles this past decade, you have only just returned to us..." His words are kind to her, a touch which makes a gentle warmth flush into her cheeks. Indeed, she has often found herself at weakness when spoken to in such proximity however it was not a weakness. Rather it was a mere habit in order to bring comfort to herself and also to fabricate the lie that she still felt human. "Can you not stay...?"

She knew this request was to be spoken towards her and her alone. She was but the only one who was destined to leave this world as a Freeblade, a decision which had been taken quite well by the rest of her House, as she had spoke of her intent firmly and she had voiced her crimes in which she was guilty of. It was often a great dilemma of those who shared her mindset. Those bonded to the god-machines which stalked the distant battlefields of the forty-first millennium. She could not stomach the failure in which she had inflicted upon her Cousin's rule any longer and it was something in which she could no longer ignore. Those of her house were often destined to seek out retribution or a penitence for failure of any kind, it was but a mere longing that seemed to dwell within those of her particular line.

Slowly, her mechanical fingers retracted from her cousin's arm while her gaze dropped towards the stone floor. She felt some emotion swirling within her heart like a rapid waterfall as she thought of her words, wishing not to speak too much without harming his own feelings. He was but one of the few whom had ever earned such an honor. He was but one of the few whom she could truly call friend and ally. Regardless of what allegiances she had made over the past years, it was he who still believed in her abilities and skills.

It was because of this that Kanashiro could not meet her cousin's gaze.

"Lady Kanashiro, will you not look at me?" He pleaded to her, knowing that had he convinced her to look up he could keep her from leaving. Though in some way, she felt as though he knew the cold and distant truth. She was to leave regardless of his words and actions. "Cousin."

There it was, a hushed voice which spoke barely over the crackling of flames and burning wood. She looked up while revealing that she suffered a great sorrow, her cheeks stained with crystalline tears that spoke volumes of her suffering. She hated herself for placing her Cousin through this. She hated herself so very much and it was the very same feeling that she had felt when she earned the right to weather through the Ritual of Becoming. She recalled the actions in which she had done on that day, when she had defeated him in ritual combat as dictated by their House law.

She remembered that she had nearly killed him and through this, it had caused her to hate herself. An affliction that had slowly been made more apparent through the Ritual itself. It wasn't until she forced herself to speak that her decision was made. "Cousin, I have wronged you in many ways over the course of our lives. Long have I regret and loathed my decision to do such unspeakable things to you and I feel as though Mother and Father were correct of me."

He stepped forward, reaching for her but she was quick to step back, tearing herself from his grip. "Kanash-"

"Do not call me by that name!" She shouted, loud enough to be heard far into the hall. Such a terrible sight this was, a weakness in which she would not hear any more of his reasons. Of his excuses refusing to let her go. She knew that he was her Lord, but in her heart he was no longer such. She had made her decision. "Do not speak so familiar with me, I am a retainer though no more. I am worse. Oath-breaker. My Lance-brothers lay dead because of my misdeeds and my own actions have insulted this Ancient and great house. There is nothing you can assure me of, nothing you can tell me that will not prevent this from happening."

"Kanashi-" Again he was cut off.

Kanashiro's response was harsh beyond belief. It was declared to him and any who dare to listen. Her very expression was but the rage that had painted her face. She had sworn to herself she would say it to him so that he would not think otherwise."I am Freeblade."

Without heeding the words of her cousin, her High-King, she stormed out of the room as she forcibly knocked him aside. Indeed it was a terrible thing to invoke but she could not rid herself of the consuming guilt which had poisoned her mind. She could not sleep any longer and she could not deny the failure which has stricken her soul. There was little thought in her decision as it was not something she could not turn away for no longer could she wear the brilliant colors of her House.

Nor would she ever see it again... or her cousin for that matter.

It was a sudden thing, what happened next. Moments after storming out of the room, she had stepped out to look upon the snow covered lands of her home. It was beautiful and yet at the same time something was different. Her gaze was no sooner directed towards the sky which was ablaze with flame as the form of a vessel pierced through the winter clouds and impacted not to distant away. The sheer weight of the vessel had thrown her to her feet through the tremors which reached the sanctuary. As she was on the ground, she could not fathom what was happening until her own senses kicked in.

Silently, she recovered from her fallen position and turned towards where she had come, only to see her Cousin's head rolling into plain view. It had been loosed by a daemon which towered over her like a god of blood-red skin. Its snarling gaze was affixed on her visage while it laughed into the night as blood showered its form. Kanashiro's own mind was set ablaze with hatred and contempt as she steeled herself against the sight which defied all reason. They had fallen under attack and the forces of Chaos have returned to their world once more.

"What use are you without your machine, pitiful noble?" The creature asked while it loosed laughter from its foul soul. His words hung upon the air unlike those spoken from man and more like that of a ghost. "What use was he to you, Kanashiro? What use is any of this?"

She stepped back, instinctively reaching for the blades she had often kept at her side and found them not to be had. She had forgotten them in her room and in this, she cursed her own stupidity as now she was to die. Her life was to be ended by this foul beast and she could do nothing but accept this fate. Part of her wished for death at the hands of what she deserved, but this was something which would merely confirm the taint which lingered in her soul. This is what she deserved. This is what she had earned for her foolishness and failure. Yet, there was a small flicker of a raging fire which burned for survival. She longed to slay this beast before her. Her hands curled into tight fists, nails digging into her skin.

"You wish to unleash yourself upon me?" The Daemon asked, laughing through needle thin teeth. Hellish eyes looking upon her as if lustful to see her stripped naked and dead. "Then come, mortal. Assail me and let us test your resolve with a true trial."

Something within Kanashiro snapped. Her hatred filled her heart as if molten rock had been poured into her veins. She felt fire within her lungs and the very corners of her vision darken whilst her rage was unleashed with something that bordered on obsession. She let out a ghoulish scream which would have halted the hearts of those who loved her, those who cared for her, those who knew her. She rushed forward without question, without hesitation whilst her hatred had consumed her like a daemon drinking souls.

She felt her mechanical fist crash into the Daemon's face as her world was consumed by blackness.


End file.
